The Ultimate Fighter 17.02: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

By Nathan McCarter

The Ultimate Fighter: Team Jones vs.Team Sonnen premiered its second episode on Tuesday night. The fighters entered the house, picked out their beds, and got to begin their preparation for the tournament.

The first fight took place, and here is the good, the bad, and the ugly from the second episode of the season:

The Good

• Frank Mir and Bubba Jenkins are assistant coaches on Team Jones. These two men are perfect choices for this show, and the fighters will learn a lot from their teachings. Team Sonnen has excellent coaches as well, but Mir and Jenkins were definitely the highlight.
• We touched on this last week, but the new production of the show is phenomenal. It does a much better job of making the day-to-day activities more interesting for the viewer. High level storytelling.
• The finish to the fight was excellent. Luke Barnatt and Gilbert Smith had a odd, but entertaining, scrap, of which Barnett finished by knockout. As Smith came in Barnett blasted him with a knee that landed flush. Maybe this season is as exciting as everyone claims.

The Bad

• Team Jones is an odd bunch. At the end of the first episode they were already second guessing Jon Jones, and in this episode they were rough on Smith prior to his fight. While their concerns are legitimate, they are going about it the wrong way. The team dynamic and morale is not where it should be as men prepare to get inside a cage and fight.
• Gilbert Smith was not in the right state of mind to fight. He was constantly second guessing himself and needed positive reinforcement from people he had only been around for a week.
• House interactions at this point are not all that interesting. It’s only the beginning, but from the reality television side of the show it is not as compelling as the sport side of the show.

The Ugly

• Gilbert Smith crying outside of the house was just not good. He had only been away from home for a week and he was already breaking mentally prior to his fight. It shows just how difficult this situation can be for fighters who do not have that mental edge. Luckily for Smith, this show also has the ability to develop that mental edge. We will see how he develops as the season goes on and the finale rolls around.
• The fight until the finish was… interesting. It wasn’t pretty.
• Dear UFC and FX, stop ruining everything in your teases for the next week. Thank you, the viewers.

Next week one of the show’s highly touted prospects hits the cage in what was teased as one of the most devastating finishes in show history: Uriah Hall vs. Adam Cella

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